Airbnb Demand Skyrocketing In Buncombe County

Bookings through Airbnb skyrocketed in the past year in Buncombe County. A study commissioned by the Buncombe County Tourism Development Authority showed demand for rentals through the site increased 105% in the past year. Hotel room bookings grew only 3% during the same time. The growth in Airbnb demand comes despite its murky legal status in Asheville. Airbnb rentals are legal in "commercial" parts of the city, but illegal in "residential" parts. Whether to expand or contract Airbnb availability will be a major campaign issue during this fall's Asheville city council and mayoral elections. Jason Sandford of AshVegas.com has been writing extensively about this issue. He joined BPR's Matt Bush to discuss the latest.

Tuesday night the Asheville city council rejected a major hotel project in downtown along Haywood Street. An 8-story Embassy Suites hotel would have occupied the former spot of the Buncombe County Sheriff's office. By a unanimous vote the council voted down the plan, one of the few times a hotel project has been stopped in Asheville during the boom of the area's tourism industry.